—by Rachel Fang

It was only because I was cashiering unexpectedly that I had the good luck to meet Peter Leach, a local potter and photographer who also happens to be an HPC member. His name rang a bell with me because I have a mug he made, a fact I was made aware of only when a friend pointed out his logo on its base.

—by Lois Braun

Commodity crops are any crops that are traded. Generally they are relatively nonperishable, storable, transportable, and undifferentiated: one corn kernel looks like any other corn kernel. But in our national discussion about food and agriculture policy, “commodity crop” refers to those that are regulated by federal programs under the commodity title of the U.S. Farm Bill. There have been 20 of them (listed in the box below), but the major five (in bold) that take the lion’s share of taxpayer money are cotton, wheat, corn, soybeans, and rice.

-by Joel Krogstad, Chair

Much is afoot on the HPC board these days. New directors Brian Corner, Matt Hass, and Ed Morales have brought an infusion of new energy and ideas to the board in the past few months. Brian brings important marketing and technology skills from his position as Publicity Support with Cedar Cultural Center. Matt brings considerable previous board and management experience to his new role. Ed was a previous board chair of Chequamegon Food Co-op in Wisconsin, and I am pleased to say is our new vice chair.

—by Hannah Miller

Early this October, Joel Krogstad, chair of the board of directors, called to order the 2011 annual shareholders’ meeting, held at the Church of St. Cecilia’s for the first time in several years. The rest of the directors introduced themselves: treasurer Huong Nguyen, outgoing secretary Roseanne Rivers, staff representative Naomi Jackson, Melvyn Jones, Marcia Hanson, and Michael McKenna.